Highgate Wood School Arts College, London, United Kingdom

Children are the future

WGI continue involvement in Building Schools for the Future programme

Watkins Gray International has announced that Highgate Wood School Arts College in Hornsey, North London, has been handed over. Highgate Wood School is the second project completed by Watkins Gray International as part of Haringey’s Building Schools for the Future programme, following their work on John Loughborough School.

Improvements at the secondary school have included construction of a new two-storey extension that provides four new classrooms on the first floor and a new expansive and fully equipped ‘Learning Resource Centre’ on the ground floor – the centrepiece of a series of improvements implemented by the design team.

Additional new construction includes a new double height extension to the dining hall linking the school’s two main teaching blocks, a new Media Studies mezzanine classroom, a music studio recording facility and a technical control room for the main hall to enhance the quality of performance of the space.

Extensive refurbishment has also been undertaken on the stage area of the school hall, while refurbishments to the existing school facilities have created a large ICT rich Sixth Form study room and two music practice rooms. External playing areas have also been enhanced, and covered external areas have been created. The £4.9m project comprises a total of 850 sq m of new build space, with a further 700 sq m of refurbished space.

Martin Evans, partner at Watkins Gray International, said: “We’ve delivered a real value for money solution at Highgate Wood School. This was facilitated by our contribution to the curriculum analysis at the earlier stages, and our contribution to the original brief for the school. The brand new Learning Resource Centre and the remodelled Dining Hall have become the heart of the school providing elegant and modern facilities. Meanwhile, we have brought together the originally separate teaching blocks, enhancing circulation and providing a feeling of coherence and wholeness to the site.”